Legislation content on this website

Q. What legislation is held on
legislation.gov.uk?

A. Legislation.gov.uk carries most (but not all) types of legislation
and their accompanying explanatory documents. For a full list of
legislation types held on legisliation.gov.uk see Browse Legislation. For further details of how complete our
data set is for each type, click on a legislation type from the
Browse Legislation page and see the colour coded bar for each year.

All legislation from 1988 – present day is available on
this site (see ‘Why isn’t the
legislation I am looking for on this site?’ for
details of any known legislation we do not carry). Most pre-1988
primary legislation is available on this site. In some cases we
only have the original published (as enacted) version and no
revised version. This occurs if the legislation was wholly
repealed before 1991 and therefore was not included in the
revised data set when it was extracted from Statutes in Force.
In other cases we may only have a revised version if the
original (as enacted) version is not available in a
web-publishable format.

We are currently in the process of uploading a large selection
of secondary legislation from 1948 onwards.

Q. Will I find new legislation on
legislation.gov.uk?

A. Yes. Legislation.gov.uk is the official place of publication for
newly enacted legislation. The aim is to publish legislation on
legislation.gov.uk simultaneously with, or at least within 24 hours,
of its publication in printed form. Any document which is especially
complex in terms of its size or its typography may take longer to
prepare and so a PDF version will be published first. Legislation
detailed on the New Legislation page is listed by
date published to this website.

Q. Why isn’t the legislation I am
looking for on this site?

A. There are two reasons why the item you are looking for is not on
this site:

It may be that we do not carry the item of legislation you are
looking for because it is not available in a web publishable
format. This is the most likely reason if you are looking for an
old legislation item that was repealed before our base date of
1991 or was for some other reason not included in the earlier
hard-copy editions of the revised statutes (see below ‘What legislation is available
as revised?’). You may be able to obtain a
printed copy from The British
Library which runs a photocopying service of official
publications (including legislation) which they hold, or try the
Parliamentary Archives website.

There are a small number of Acts, as listed below, for which we
do not carry revised versions on the website for technical
reasons. We hope to include these in the near future.

Q. How can I access legislation that isn’t
available on legislation.gov.uk?

A. Where legislation is not available on legislation.gov.uk, it may
be possible to view or obtain a copy from one of the sources listed
below.

Most law, university and major public libraries will hold published
annual bound volumes of both primary and secondary legislation.
Older primary legislation (pre- the 1900s) is normally found in
either the “Statutes of the Realm” or “Statutes at
Large”. Prior to the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (c.36),
secondary legislation was known as Statutory Rules and Orders
(SROs). From 1894 until 31 December 1947 SROs were a numbered annual
series. SROs existed prior to 1894 but were un-numbered. The
publication of annual volumes of SROs began in 1890. Prior to this
there was no systematic publication of these Rules, Orders and
Regulations. Sometimes they would appear in an Official Publication
such as the London Gazette or a Parliamentary Paper or a Stationery
Office Publication, while a portion of them can only be found in
papers printed by the Department concerned or in text books.
Information regarding SROs can be found in the publication entitled
Table of Government Orders.

In Northern Ireland Primary and subordinate legislation not available
on legislation.gov.uk can be found in the Annual Volumes of
legislation for Northern Ireland. For revised Northern Ireland
Primary legislation please refer to the Statutes Revised (Northern
Ireland) 2nd Edition 1981 or contact spo.legislation@ofmdfmni.gov.uk who can generally help
users find older Northern Ireland Statutory Rules and pre-1921
Northern Ireland legislation.

The repositories at The National Archives hold a variety of
legislation which can be viewed in the Reading Rooms. Please see the
guidance Looking for Records of Parliament available on The National
Archives website as well as Privy Council since 1386 which includes information about
how to locate local statutory instruments (also see information on
local statutory instruments further down this section). To view
original documents, you will need to obtain a reader's ticket by
bringing two forms of identification with you when you visit. For
further details please see the Before You Visit pages on The National Archives website
where you can also find details about Ordering Documents in Advance.

Local Statutory Instruments (SIs) are not normally printed and we
only recently started uploading PDFs of local non-print SIs onto the
website. There is no intention of retrospectively uploading older
non-print SIs as most are not in electronic format. Photocopies of
UK and Welsh local non-print Statutory Instruments from 1922 to 2006
can be ordered from The National Archives by using the online
contact form stating that you would like a copy of a local
statutory instrument held in repository reference TS37 citing the SI
Year, Number and Title wherever possible. Requests for local
non-print Statutory Instruments not yet deposited in the repository
(i.e. post 2006 SIs) and not available on the website should be
emailed to: localsis@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. Local Scottish
Statutory Instruments are lodged with The National Archives of
Scotland (email: enquiries@nas.gov.uk – phone: +44(0)131 535 1352 (Legal
Search Room)). For local Northern Ireland Statutory Rules, please
contact the Statutory Publications Office in Belfast on +44(0)28
9052 3237 or email spo.legislation@ofmdfmni.gov.uk.

Printed copies of enacted legislation and other official publications
can be purchased from The
Stationery Office Limited (TSO) (email: book.orders@tso.co.uk –
phone: +44 (0) 870 600 5522. Printed copies of revised versions of
legislation are normally only available through specialist legal
publishers.

Q. What legislation is available as revised?

A. Most types of primary legislation (e.g. Acts, Measures, N.I.
Orders in Council) are held in ‘revised’ form:

Public General Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament (1801 to
date)

Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain (1707 –
1800)

Acts of the English Parliament (1267 – 1706)

Acts of the Old Scottish Parliament (1424 – 1707)

Acts of the Scottish Parliament (1999 to date)

Acts of the National Assembly for Wales (2012 to date)

Measures of the National Assembly for Wales (2008 –
2011)

Acts of the Irish Parliament (1495 – 1800)

Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921 –
1972)

Measures of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1974)

Orders in Council made under the Northern Ireland Acts (1972 to
date) (effectively the primary legislation for Northern Ireland
under direct rule, though in the form of Statutory
Instruments)

Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (2000 – 2002 and
2007 to date)

Church of England Measures (1920 to date)

Revised versions of some secondary legislation (e.g Statutory
Instruments) is also held on legislation.gov.uk. More secondary
legislation is being revised as part of our work and will be
published as it becomes available.

By ‘revised’ we mean that amendments made by subsequent
legislation are incorporated into the text. Most types of secondary
legislation are not revised and are held only in the form in which
they were originally made.

The originating text of the revised content was derived mainly from
the publication Statutes in Force (SIF), a
‘loose-leaf’ style official edition of the revised
statute book arranged according to subject matter. SIF was regularly
updated with the effects of new legislation made until 1 February
1991. The date of this final revision became the ‘base
date’ from which the revised content has been taken forward
on the web. SIF did not generally include certain categories of
legislation, such as Statute Law Revision Acts, Statute Law
(Repeals) Acts and Acts extending only to Northern Ireland. (For
further details, see the Guide to
Revised Legislation on legislation.gov.uk at page 6). The
other main source of revised legislation held on legislation.gov.uk
is The Northern Ireland Statutes Revised, the official revised
version of the primary legislation of Northern Ireland. The content
of the numbered volumes and their supplements covering the period
from 1921 onwards has been incorporated into legislation.gov.uk as
it stood at 31 December 2005.

Q. How up to date is the revised content on this
website?

A. All legislation held on legislation.gov.uk in revised form has
been updated with effects of legislation made up to 2002 (except for
some effects of 2002 legislation that were not yet in force at the
end of 2002). About half of all items of legislation are also
up-to-date to the present. For the remainder there are still effects
outstanding for at least one of the years 2003 to the current year.
See the Changes to Legislation page for more information.

Q. Will the revised legislation ever be brought
up to date?

A. Yes. We have embarked on a programme designed to bring the revised
legislation fully up to date. There are two main elements to this
work. The first element is the development of improved editorial
tools and processes, with greater use of electronic capture of
legislation information. The new systems will make the revision of
legislation faster and more flexible, and enable editors to
contribute remotely. The second element, building on the greater
usability of the new systems, involves the contribution of external
expert participants who are willing to work collaboratively with us
towards the common goal of a comprehensive and up-to-date official
source of revised legislation. We will also continue to revise
legislation ourselves and to maintain stringent standards of quality
assurance through our in-house team of review editors. Participants
include experts employed by legal publishers, UK government
departments and the devolved administrations. Although we are
concentrating at present on bringing primary legislation up to date,
expert participation will enable us to start including selected
secondary legislation in our programme of work.

Q. How will I know if the legislation I am
viewing is up to date or if there are changes (e.g. effects or
amendments) that have not yet been applied to it?

A. When you access an item of legislation, in the first instance a
'Changes to Legislation' message will appear at the top of the Table
of Contents. This will either state that there are no known
outstanding changes to the Act you are viewing or that there are
some outstanding changes yet to be applied by the legislation.gov.uk
Editorial Team. On opening the content of any item of legislation
that has outstanding changes and effects waiting to be applied to it
by the editorial team the outstanding effects are listed at the top
of the provision.

Q. How up to date are the lists of
outstanding changes in the red Changes to Legislation box at the top
of legislation items?

A. The changes to legislation (e.g. effects and amendments) displayed
at the top of the page when you are viewing revised legislation are
added as soon as possible after the new legislation is received.
However, the Changes to Legislation facility on the website is
updated with the effects of new legislation only after a series of
preparatory editorial processes have been completed. These processes
typically take from four to eight weeks to complete depending on the
volume of new legislation. In some cases, such as where an Act is
very large or heavily affecting, or a large number of Acts have
received Royal Assent at the same time, it may take longer.

Q. Who produces the latest revised version
of the legislation?

A. Responsibility for the revised content of legislation.gov.uk lies
with the Legislation Editorial Team at The National Archives in
London and the staff of the Northern Ireland Statutory Publications
Office in Belfast. For further details, go to the 'About Us'
tab at the top of any web page on the site. Increasingly, in the
future, revision work will be carried out by external expert
participants as well as in-house editors, though our in-house review
editors will continue to ensure the high quality of the published
output. (For further information, see above ‘Will the revised legislation ever be brought up to
date?’)

Using legislation.gov.uk

Q. How do I open a whole Act on
legislation.gov.uk?

A. Once you have completed a search on legislation and have selected
an item of legislation, you will be taken to the Table of Contents
for that item of legislation. From this page you can open the
legislation at any level by selecting opening options on the
left-hand menu. It is also possible to use ‘print
options’ to generate a PDF of the whole Act.

Q. What are annotations?

A. Annotations are notes that appear at the foot of a piece of
legislative text on legislation.gov.uk. They are mainly used to
provide the authority for amendments or other effects on the
legislation, but they may also be used to convey other editorial
information.

Each annotation has a reference number and the nature of the
information it contains is conveyed by the annotation type. For
instance, F-notes identify amendments where
there is authority to change the text, and I-notes contain information about the coming into force of
a provision. For further details, see the Guide to
Revised Legislation on legislation.gov.uk.

Q. Can I search by subject?

A. It is not currently possible to search all legislation on this
site by subject. It is however possible to browse secondary
legislation by Subject Heading from the Browse Legislation tab.
Subject Headings are assigned to SIs when they are drafted and
relate to their enabling power.

Q. How can I give feedback on
legislation.gov.uk?

Help with legislation

Q. Where do I get help understanding a
particular legislation item or area of legislation?

A. To obtain further information on a particular legislation item or
area of legislation, you should contact the
government department responsible for the legislation. You
can determine the department responsible for a particular piece of
legislation by looking at the signature block on the Statutory
Instruments (SIs) relating to the legislation. For Acts, if they
have an accompanying Explanatory Note (found under the "Explanatory
Notes" or "More Resources" tab) the introductory paragraph normally
identifies the government department that sponsored the Act through
Parliament. Please note Explanatory Notes for Acts in the United
Kingdom were only introduced in 1999. Additionally certain financial
Acts do not usually have Explanatory Notes, including Appropriation
Acts and Consolidated Fund Acts. Acts that have been introduced to
Parliament by the House of Lords often do not have accompanying
Explanatory Notes. Some Departments have changed names over the
years, so you may need to make a determination as to which
department you believe currently has the remit for the particular
area of responsibility you are interested in.

Some UK SIs also have an accompanying Explanatory Memorandum (not the
Explanatory Note at the end of the SI) where you will find a
paragraph that contains contact details for that particular piece of
legislation. This is normally Paragraph 13 for most SIs or Paragraph
9 for older SIs). You can find Explanatory Memoranda by clicking on
the 'Explanatory Memorandum' or 'More Resources' tabs within the
legislation.

You can find government department contact details on the centralised
government website- GOV.UK.
GOV.UK also has a wealth of information on a variety of subjects
which may assist you with your query.

A great deal of legislation (such as building regulations, planning,
local roads and parking, licensing, noise, etc) is actually
administered by local councils who are normally the best point of
contact for advice on these matters. You can also find local council
contact details on the GOV.UK website.

Q. Can you help me to find the law on a
particular subject?

A. We regret that we are unable to carry out any research on your
behalf. Legislation.gov.uk exists as an online resource enabling
users to carry out their own research using the search facilities
provided. You should bear in mind that the law on any given subject
may be contained in many different statutes or statutory instruments
and there may be other sources of relevant law, such as case law,
that are not held on legislation.gov.uk. For example, you might want
to know what the law is concerning ‘direct debits’ and
searches on legislation.gov.uk using these terms produce no results.
In fact, the law concerning direct debits is not directly governed
by statute law at all – it is founded in the common law of
contract and is mainly regulated by a non-statutory set of rules
together with case law. Our staff do not have the legal knowledge to
answer this sort of question and we do not have the resources to
carry out the necessary research ourselves on users’ behalf.
You may be able to obtain assistance with researching a legal
subject by contacting a law library.

Q. How do I get advice about a legal
problem?

A. We are unable to provide you with any legal advice, not even
advice concerning the correct interpretation of legislation as we do
not have any legal expertise at our disposal. Our role is to publish
legislation and our task in relation to the revision of legislation
is purely an editorial one.

You can obtain advice about legal problems from the Citizens Advice
Bureau- which offers a Citizens Advice Service in England and Wales
to help people resolve their legal, money and other problems by
providing free information and advice.There are also Citizens Advice
Services for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Advice for queries related to specific topics (for example consumer
rights, trading standards, employment rights, debt, fraud, adoption,
tenants rights, etc.) is often best obtained through specialist
organisations, regulatory bodies, or ombudsman services who deal
solely with this subject and have in-depth knowledge of what
legislation applies in what circumstances. Details of relevant
organisations can usually be found by searching either the
AdviceGuide websites listed above or on the GOV.UK website

In some cases it is best to obtain professional legal advice. Law Centres provide an
independent legal advice and representation service across the UK.
Advicenow is an
independent, not-for-profit website providing accurate, up-to-date
information on rights and legal issues.

Q. Where can I find out about the history of
a legislation item and the legislative process?

A. Acts start out as Bills and only become part of the statute book
once they have passed all stages of Parliamentary procedure and
receive Royal Assent. Once they have received Royal Assent, Acts are
published under the authority of the Queen’s Printer to this
website. Information about a Bill’s passage can be found on
the individual national Parliamentary and Assembly websites for the
UK
Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly and the National Assembly for
Wales. These websites also contain information on their
particular legislative process and procedures. The history of the
parliamentary debates relating to Bills in the UK Parliament can be
found in Hansard the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both
the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Q. How do I refer to legislation in academic
work or publication?

A. The way in which legislation should be referred to in academic
work and publications depends on the referencing style adopted by
the academic institution or publishing house in question. For
example, many universities use style guides based on the Harvard
Referencing Style. The particular style requirements of each
institution or publisher may differ, however, and you should always
check with your faculty or publisher how they expect you to refer to
legislation in your work. Bearing this in mind, you may find the
following information useful:

Title, year and number

The formats described here reflect generally accepted practice among
legislators and legal practitioners.

Public General Acts of the UK Parliament

These may be cited by the short title (which includes the year)
and chapter number (bracketed), e.g. Constitutional Reform Act
2005 (c. 4).

Citations of pre-1963 Acts may also contain a reference to the
'regnal year'(that is, the year of the
sovereign's reign) of the session of parliament in which
the Act was passed, e.g. Statute of Westminster 1931 (22 and 23
Geo. 5 c. 4). This means that the Act was passed in 1931 during
the session of Parliament spanning the 22nd and 23rd years of
the reign of King George the Fifth.

Local Acts of the UK Parliament

These may be cited by the short title (which includes the year)
and chapter number in Roman numerals (bracketed), e.g. London
Local Authorities Act 1996 (c. ix)

Acts of Earlier Parliaments

These may be cited in exactly the same way as UK Public General
Acts except that, in the case of Acts of the old Scottish or
Irish parliaments, there might also be a letter 'S' or
'I' as appropriate in square brackets at the end of
the citation, e.g. Writs Act 1672 (c. 16 [S])

Acts of the Scottish Parliament

These may be cited by the short title (which includes the year)
and 'asp' number (bracketed), e.g. Human Tissue
(Scotland) Act 2006 (asp 4).

Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (and other primary
legislation for Northern Ireland)

These may be cited by the short title (which includes the year)
and chapter number (bracketed), e.g. Social Security Act
(Northern Ireland) 2002 (c. 10).

Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921 to 1972) and
Measures of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1974 only) are cited
in exactly the same way as Acts of the Northern Ireland
Assembly.

For the citation of Northern Ireland Orders in Council, see under
'Statutory Instruments' below.

Church Measures

These may be cited by the short title (which includes the year)
and Measure number (bracketed), e.g. Clergy Discipline Measure
2003 (No. 3).

Statutory Instruments

These may be cited by the title (which includes the year) and
Statutory Instrument (S.I.) number (bracketed), e.g. The
Detergents Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/2469).

Northern Ireland Orders in Council (which are in the form of
Statutory Instruments), will be cited similarly, but with the
addition of the 'N.I'series number, e.g. The Budget
(Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/860) (N.I. 3.).

Scottish Statutory Instruments

These may be cited by the title (which includes the year) and
Scottish Statutory Instrument (S.S.I.) number (bracketed), e.g.
The Tuberculosis (Scotland) Order 2005 (S.S.I. 2005/434).

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

These may be cited by the title (which includes the year) and
Statutory Rules (S.R.) number (bracketed), e.g. The Quarries
Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.R. 2006/205).

Church Instruments

These instruments do not have any series numbers, perhaps
because there are so few of them. They are generally cited by
date in the style: Instrument dated 14.12.2000 made by the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York or, occasionally:
Archbishops' Instrument dated 14.12.2000.

Author

There is no readily identifiable 'author'of an Act or
Statutory Instrument in the same way as there is an author of a
book or article. If there could be said to be an
'author'it would be the Crown. Check with your faculty
or publisher whether this information is really needed in the
reference and, if so, how they want it to be expressed.

Publisher

This information can be found on the printed Act or instrument,
or in the bound volume. Except for very old legislation (before
1889), the publisher will either be His or Her Majesty's
Stationery Office ('HMSO') or. since 1996 (1997 for
Acts).'The Stationery Office Limited' (a private
company which publishes legislation under the authority and
superintendence of HMSO under contract).

Place of Publication

The 'place of publication' is only ever given as
'UK' on printed copies of legislation. If a more
particular location is really required, the place of publication
can generally be taken to depend on the legislature from which
the legislation originated: London (for Acts of the UK
parliament and Statutory Instruments made under them); Edinburgh
(for Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory
Instruments); Belfast (for Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly
and Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland made under them); or
Cardiff (for Measures of the National Assembly for Wales or
Statutory Instruments made by the Assembly).

How to cite the revised version of an Act

You would cite a revised version of an Act in exactly the same
way as you would cite the Act as originally enacted (i.e., in
this case, the XXX Act YYYY (c. NN)) but, by convention, you
might then add "(as amended)" to indicate that you are referring
to the revised version.

Glossary

Where a term defined below begins with a capital letter, this
indicates that the term usually begins with a capital letter when it
is used in legislation or in annotations.

A law enacted by a parliament or similar legislative body. In
the UK, Acts may be made by the UK Parliament, the Scottish
Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, or the Northern
Ireland Assembly. Historically, Acts were also made by the
parliaments that met before the UK came into existence and
by the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921 to 1972).

Acts are a form of primary legislation.

affected provision

A provision (e.g. a section) subject to one or more changes
or effects.

affecting provision

A provision that gives rise to one or more changes or
effects.

amendment

An effect that changes the text of legislation. The term
‘amended’ is also sometimes used on
legislation.gov.uk to indicate an effect that changes the
meaning of the legislation even though the text itself is
not changed.

annotation

A note that appears at the foot of a provision (or under the
associated heading if relating to a higher-level division)
and which gives authority for an effect or extra information
about the provision in general or a specific part of that
provision.

Each annotation has a reference number and the nature of the
information it contains is conveyed by the annotation type.
For instance, F-notes identify amendments where there is
authority to change the text, and I-notes contain
information about the coming into force of a provision.

base date

The term we use for the starting point from which the
revision of legislation on legislation.gov.uk (and
previously on the UK Statute Law Database) has been carried
forward. It is the date to which the text of the earlier
hard copy editions had been revised when used as the
originating text for the electronic version.

For most types of revised legislation on legislation.gov.uk,
the base date is 1 February 1991.

The originating text for most types of legislation was
derived mainly from ‘Statutes in Force’ (SIF),
an earlier official edition of the revised statute book. The
final revision of SIF incorporated all effects of
legislation made or enacted up to 1 February 1991, but the
effects of a small number of consolidation Acts enacted
after the base date, in 1991 and 1992, were also
incorporated.

For the revised legislation of Northern Ireland on
legislation.gov.uk, the base date is 1 January 2006.

The originating text for this legislation was ‘The
Northern Ireland Statutes Revised’, the official
edition of the revised statute book for Northern Ireland.
The final revision of that text incorporated all effects of
legislation made or enacted up to 31 December 2005.

blanket amendment

An effect that is framed in such a way as to affect
legislation generally rather than any specific enactment.

C-notes - Modifications etc (not altering text)

‘C’ stands for ‘Cross-notes’, so
called because of the way in which they were presented in
the hard copy predecessors to the revised content on
legislation.gov.uk. This annotation type is used to denote
the effect when the meaning, scope or application of an Act
or provision etc. is changed in some way, but without there
being any authority to alter the text. Typical expressions
of effects of this kind are ‘modified’,
‘applied’, ‘excluded’,
‘extended’, ‘restricted’,
etc.

changes

The terms ‘changes’ and ‘changes to
legislation’ are sometimes used on this site instead
of the term ‘effects’.

Chapter

The sequential number of an Act (except an Act of the
Scottish Parliament) is called a ‘Chapter
number’. For example, the Police Reform Act 2002
is Chapter 30 in the year 2002. ‘Chapter’
is usually abbreviated: Police Reform Act 2002 (c.
30)

A numbered level of division within an Act or other
legislation. Chapters generally come below Parts but
above cross-headings in the hierarchy.

Church Instrument

A type of secondary legislation made by the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York under authority contained in Church
Measures.

"coming into force" date

The date on which a legislative provision or an effect comes
into force. Also known as the commencement date.

commencement

The coming into force of a provision or an effect.

The commencement of a piece of legislation may be determined
by a provision of the legislation itself, referred to as the
‘commencement provision', or it may be determined by
a special type of Statutory Instrument known as a
‘Commencement Order’.

confers power

This term is used where a provision confers power to make
secondary legislation.

cross-heading

In primary legislation, an italic heading that indicates the
subject matter of a provision or group of provisions beneath
it. In the hierarchical structure of legislation, it comes
below Part or Chapter level but above the level of the
lowest level of provision, such as the section in an
Act.

It is called a cross-heading because it is usually centred,
running across the page. However, in the new style of
drafting adopted for most primary legislation since 2001,
cross-headings in Schedules (but not in the main body) are
ranged left.

Note that in secondary legislation there are elements called
cross-headings that may appear differently to those in
primary legislation and do not necessarily serve the same
function.

division

A term we use to denote any one of the hierarchical levels
into which a piece of legislation may be divided.

For instance, the two main divisions of an Act are the main
body and the schedules, and these are preceded by the long
title, the short title and any other introductory text.
Lower levels of division within the main body and schedules
may include Parts, Chapters and cross-headings. The lowest
levels of division in an Act are sections (in the main body)
or paragraphs (in the schedules).

For further information see Structure of Legislation.

E-notes – Geographical Extent information

This annotation type contains information about the
geographic extent of the Act or relevant part of it.

E-notes are at present used very sparingly, mainly to
indicate some complexity or change in the extent which is
not adequately reflected in the extent provision of the Act
(although they have been used more extensively in the past).
They are also used where there are multiple versions of a
provision created for different geographical extents.

effect

Any impact that one legislative provision may have on
another. The most familiar type of effect is an amendment
that changes the text of the affected legislation, but there
are also types of effect that do not change the text, such
as where a provision is said to be ‘modified’
or ‘applied’. Other events, such as the
commencement of a provision, are also treated as effects for
the purposes of legislation.gov.uk.

Note that a piece of legislation, such as an Act, may contain
internal effects. For example, a provision in an Act may
modify or apply some other provision in the same Act. These
internal effects are not generally annotated. The main
exception is where an Act amends its own text, which may
happen, for example, when an Act repeals itself, or part of
itself, at some future date. Also, certain internal effects
to do with commencement and extent may be recorded.

Executive Note

An Executive Note sets out a brief statement of the purpose
of a Scottish Statutory Instrument and provides information
about its policy objective and policy implications. It aims
to make the Scottish Statutory Instrument accessible to
readers who are not legally qualified. Executive Notes
accompany any Scottish Statutory Instrument or Draft
Scottish Statutory Instrument laid before the Scottish
Parliament from July 2005 onwards. From July 2012 onwards,
these are replaced by Policy Notes.

exercise of power

This expression may be used in annotations in a provision
that confers power to make secondary (or subordinate)
legislation to record the making of instruments under that
power.

Explanatory Note

Text created by the government department responsible for the
subject matter of the Act (or Measure) to explain what the
Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to
readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes
were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except
Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation
Acts.

Text called an Explanatory Note also appears following the
legislative text of Statutory Instruments, Scottish
Statutory Instruments or Statutory Rules of Northern
Ireland. For Welsh Statutory Instruments the Explanatory
Note precedes the body of the Instrument in print format but
follows the legislative text in html format. The Explanatory
Note is intended to give a concise and clear statement of
the substance of the instrument. The instrument may also be
accompanied by an Explanatory Memorandum, Executive Note or
Policy Note.

Explanatory Memorandum

An Explanatory Memorandum (EM) sets out a brief statement of
the purpose of a Statutory Instrument or Statutory Rules of
Northern Ireland and provides information about its policy
objective and policy implications. It aims to make the
Statutory Instruments or Rules accessible to readers who are
not legally qualified. EMs accompany any Statutory
Instrument or Draft Statutory Instrument laid before
Parliament from June 2004 onwards and any Statutory Rule
laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly (or UK Parliament
during the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly)
since June 2004.

extent

See ‘geographical extent’.

F-notes - Amendments (Textual)

F’ stands for ‘Footnotes’. This
annotation type is used for amendments, including repeals,
where there is authority to change the text.

geographical extent

The geographical area within the UK to which legislation
applies.

The term ߢextentߣ when used in legislation refers
to the jurisdiction(s) for which it is law. Thus, the extent
may be the whole of the UK or one or more of the three
jurisdictions within the UK: England and Wales; Scotland;
and Northern Ireland. Note that ߢEnglandߣ and
ߢWalesߣ are not separate jurisdictions. The term
ߢextentߣ is currently used more loosely on
legislation.gov.uk for searching purposes, to help users
find legislation relevant to each of the four geographical
parts of the UK. For this reason, it may denote a limited
territorial application within a wider technical extent. For
example, the extent of the legislation may be ߢEngland
and Walesߣ but it only applies to Wales. In due
course, changes will be made to the way in which
ߢextentߣ information is presented on
legislation.gov.uk so that information about extent and
limited territorial application within a wider extent will
be displayed separately.

Currently, each ߢextentߣ is represented by one
of, or a combination of, England (E), Wales (W), Scotland
(S) and Northern Ireland (NI). Thus, a UK extent is E+W+S+NI
and a GB extent is E+W+S. This information can be displayed
within revised legislation when it is being viewed by
selecting ‘show geographical extent’ in the
left-hand column.

Every version of every provision, and every higher level of
division, within a piece of legislation is assigned its own
extent. In the case of higher levels of divisions the extent
will be set wide enough to include the extent of all the
provisions within it.

In some limited cases there may be multiple versions created
to represent differing geographical extents (previously
referred to as ‘concurrent versions’ on the UK
Statute Law Database). Two or more versions of a provision
(or other level of division of legislation) are created
where a substitution of text (or of the whole provision
etc.) affects only part of the original geographical extent
of the provision. Such versions have the same start date and
continue to run alongside one another.

For instance, if there is a substitution of text in a
provision that extends to the whole of the UK, but the
substitution affects Wales only, two versions result: one
for the provision in its unamended state to cover England,
Scotland and Northern Ireland, and one for the provision as
amended to cover Wales.

hierarchy

‘Hierarchy’ and ‘hierarchical
structure’ are terms we use to denote the levels of
division within a piece of legislation on legislation.gov.uk
and the relationship between them. For example, the level of
a cross-heading in an Act comes below the Part level in the
hierarchy, but above the section level.

I-notes - Commencement information

‘I’ stands for ‘In-force’. This
annotation type contains information about the coming into
force of a provision and will typically state whether it is
partly or wholly in force, give the date or dates of
commencement and cite relevant provisions of the Act and any
commencing instruments.

At present, I-notes are used only if there is some complexity
in the commencement. If the provision came into force on one
day for all purposes, no I-note will be created and the
in-force date will be the same as the start date of the
earliest version of the provision.

insertion

Describes a specific type of amendment where new text is
inserted into existing text. If the new text is to be placed
at the end of the existing text, the term
‘added’ may be used instead.

introductory text

A term we use to denote the text elements at the top of an
item of legislation, below the title (or short title) but
above the main body. In an Act, this will typically consist
of the long title, the date the Act received the Royal
Assent, and a conventional form of words to give effect to
the Act called the ‘words of enactment’.

Latest available (revised):

The latest available revised version of the legislation
incorporating changes (i.e. amendments and other effects)
made by subsequent legislation and applied by the
legislation.gov.uk editorial team. Changes we have not yet
applied to the text can be found listed under
‘Changes to Legislation’.

legislation

The generic term for laws of any type. The terms
‘piece of legislation’ and ‘item of
legislation’ are used within some of our help
information to mean a whole legislative document of any
type, for example an Act or Statutory Instrument.

long title

Acts and Measures have two titles, the ‘short
title’ and the ‘long title’. The
‘long title’ sets out the purposes of the Act,
sometimes at great length, whereas the ‘short
title’ is a more convenient short form by which the
Act will usually be known. For example, the Petroleum Act
1998 (short title) has a long title that reads:

On legislation.gov.uk, the long title forms part of the
introductory text of the legislation.

M-notes - Marginal citations

This annotation type is so called because it used to appear
in the margin of the Queen’s Printer’s copy of
primary legislation. M-notes recite the year and number of
an Act or instrument mentioned in the text.

"made" date

The date on which a Statutory Instrument, or other item of
secondary legislation, is formally brought into being. It
may come into force at a different date. Secondary
legislation is usually said to be ‘made’, as
opposed to Acts and other primary legislation which are
usually said to be ‘enacted’. For this reason,
the phrase ‘made or enacted’ may be used on
this site when referring to legislation generally.

A type of primary legislation passed by the short-lived
Northern Ireland Assembly in 1974 (the present Northern
Ireland Assembly passes Acts) – see 'Acts of
the Northern Ireland Assembly (and other primary
legislation for Northern Ireland)' in the Guide to Revised Legislation on
legislation.gov.uk.

A type of primary legislation passed by the National
Assembly for Wales from 2008 to 2011– see
'Measures of the National Assembly for Wales' in
the Guide to Revised Legislation on
legislation.gov.uk. The National Assembly for
Wales may now pass Acts.

Order in Council

A type of legislation, made by the Queen on the advice of the
Privy Council (a body consisting of Ministers of the Crown).
These Orders may be made under powers contained in statute,
in which case they take the form of Statutory Instruments,
notably those to legislate for Northern Ireland during
periods of direct rule. (Note, however, that many Orders in
Council are made under the residual prerogative of the
Crown. These are known as ‘Prerogative Orders’ and are not
carried on legislation.gov.uk.)

Order of Council

Such Orders differ from Orders in Council in that they are
made by the Privy Council without the need for any approval
by the Queen. Otherwise, similar considerations apply. They
may be made under statutory powers (as Statutory
Instruments) or under the prerogative, and in the latter
case they are not carried on legislation.gov.uk.

Original (As enacted or as made):

The original version of the legislation as it stood when it
was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the
text.

P-notes - Subordinate legislation made

‘P’ stands for ‘Power exercised’.
Where a provision of primary legislation confers power to
make subordinate legislation and that power is exercised
(i.e. an instrument is made in pursuance of it), that
exercise may be recorded in a P-note. The annotation will
cite any instruments made under that power.

At present, the P-note annotation type is used only in
respect of the making of commencement orders (distinguished
by a ‘C’ series number after the number of the
instrument) or other exercises of a power to appoint a
day.

paragraph

A provision, usually numbered, constituting on
legislation.gov.uk the lowest level of division in a
Schedule. (But note that the term ‘paragraph’
may also be used in legislation to denote certain levels of
sub-division within a provision.)

Part

A division of the main body or a schedule in an item of
legislation, usually forming part of a numbered sequence of
Parts.

A Part may be further subdivided hierarchically into
Chapters, cross-headings and numbered sections (or
paragraphs, if in a schedule).

Policy Note

Policy Notes replaced Executive Notes in relation to Scottish
Statutory Instruments during July 2012, and serve the same
purpose.

power

Generally used on legislation.gov.uk to mean a power to make
secondary (or subordinate) legislation contained in a
provision that ‘confers power’. The making of
an item of secondary legislation in pursuance of such a
power is referred to as an ‘exercise of
power’.

preamble

Words appearing near the beginning of an Act after the long
title, stating the reasons for passing the Act. The use of
preambles is optional and they are now rare. Any preamble
would appear in the introductory text.

primary legislation

General term used to describe the main laws passed by the
legislative bodies of the UK (e.g. an Act of the UK
Parliament). It is to be distinguished from secondary
legislation.

prospective

A term we use to indicate that a provision or an amendment
has not yet come into force.

prospective version

A version of a provision (or other level of division of
legislation) with no start date, created as a result of an
amendment that has not yet come into force.

provision

The term provision is used to describe a definable element in
a piece of legislation that has legislative effect. Most
commonly in the help documentation and messages on this site
it will be used to refer to a section (or corresponding
element such as a paragraph in a Schedule or an article in
an Order) but it can also refer to higher level divisions
such as Parts or Chapters.

Regnal years

Regnal years refer to the year of the sovereign’s
reign for the session of parliament in which the Act was
passed and may be referenced when citing legislation made
pre-1963.

repeal

Describes a specific type of amendment where existing text
ceases to have effect and may also be removed from the
legislation. Repeals may also relate to a whole Act. The
amending legislation may alternatively (or, in many cases,
additionally) specify that words or provisions ‘shall
be omitted’ or ‘shall cease to have
effect’.

repeals schedule

A schedule in an item of legislation, usually at the end, in
which the legislative provisions repealed by that
legislation are listed.

revised legislation

We use the terms ‘revise’,
‘revised’ and ‘revision’ to
refer to the editorial process of incorporating amendments
and carrying through other effects into legislation.

Schedule

An item of legislation may have one or more schedules
following the main body. Where this is the case, the
Schedules (collectively) constitute a major structural
division within the legislation. Within this higher level of
division, there may be either a single Schedule or a series
of numbered Schedules. (Note that the term
'schedule' is not usually spelt with a capital
'S' in Acts of the Scottish Parliament.)

Scottish Statutory Instrument

A type of secondary legislation made under authority
contained in Acts of the Scottish Parliament.

secondary legislation

Delegated legislation, such as a Statutory Instrument, made
by a person or body under authority contained in primary
legislation. It is also referred to as ‘subordinate
legislation’.

section

A provision, usually numbered, constituting on
legislation.gov.uk the lowest level of division in the main
body of an Act or other primary legislation.

short title

The title by which an Act or Measure is usually known. It is
to be distinguished from the long title, which sets out the
purposes of the legislation.

start date

The start date of a version is the earliest date for which it
had effect to any extent or for any purpose.

statute

An item of primary legislation, such as an Act or
Measure.

statute book

A term we use to denote the totality of the statute law in
force at any particular time.

Statutory Instrument

A type of secondary legislation made under authority
contained in Acts of Parliament.

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

A type of secondary legislation, they are the Northern
Ireland equivalent of Statutory Instruments.

Stop Date

The date on which a version is succeeded by a new version or
otherwise ceases to have effect.

subordinate legislation

See secondary legislation.

sub-provision

Any sub-division of a provision.

substitution

Describes a specific type of amendment where existing text is
replaced by new text.

successive versions

A successive version of a provision (or higher level of
division of legislation) is a new version that replaces an
earlier version. A new version is created whenever the text
is amended.

Timeline of Changes

Facility on legislation.gov.uk providing access to revised
legislation as it stood at specific points in time. The
dates displayed on the timeline of any given provision are
the start dates of the versions of that provision generated
by successive amendments, or there may be an indication that
a version is prospective. The timeline can be used to
navigate through the versions to see how the provision being
viewed has changed over time or may change in the
future.

version

On this site ‘version’ may refer to the
‘as enacted’ version of the legislation or
the ‘latest available (revised)’ version.
This information will be displayed in the ‘What
Version’ area when viewing legislation.

‘Version’ is also used in the context of
revised legislation to refer to one of any number of
versions of a provision (or higher level of division of
legislation) that may exist in any number of different
versions, usually created as a result of amendments made
to it. These versions can be viewed by showing the
Timeline of Changes.

Welsh Statutory Instrument

A type of Statutory Instrument relating specifically to Wales
made under authority contained in Acts of Parliament, in
Measures of the National Assembly for Wales, or in Acts of
the National Assembly for Wales.

words of enactment

Formal words of legislative intent appearing at the beginning
of an Act after the Long Title. Words of enactment appear in
the introductory text.

X-notes - Editorial information

The X-note annotation type is used sparingly to alert users
to anything they may need to be aware of in using the text.
They have been used, for example, to explain potential
difficulties arising from variations in pre-SLD editorial
practice over the years or to point to uncertainties in the
text of very old Acts.